A guest message by Keith Hopper Novice Buddhist Meets Subtle Mechanical Teacher—Insights Delivered with a Wink  Buddhism, a vaguely mysterious element of my childhood, happily included Sansei friends. Their parents were kind, there was a sense of order in their homes and cool machine shops, and an atmosphere of gentle welcome. Fresh pillowcases when I slept over; waves and smiles from the fields, always in the fields in rubber boots. As I considered the IOBT online sangha, I parted with a precious Inspiration Yellow Thunderbird named "Tweety." Well-kept and hard-driven,...

Play by yourself or ask family and friends to join you!  Have FUN!!

Buddhism is, and has always been, deeply rooted in community. From the very beginning of Buddhism, monks and nuns have relied on the communities around them for food and support. In return, the monks and nuns offered teachings and blessings for the community, sharing the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha’s teaching to help communities find happiness and meaning in their lives. Image: Two volunteers help unload a truck of napa cabbages that were donated to our temple's bazaar.  In Buddhism, one of the most basic practices is to express one’s faith through the 3 Treasures by saying:  “I...

by Rev. Kathy Chatterton  This is the time of the year when, in my previous life as a 4th grade teacher, I was preparing for the new school year. There was plenty to do: putting up bulletin boards, arranging desks, stacking textbooks, preparing lesson plans, studying the list of student names.  Since our temple will be returning to weekly Sunday services, we might also want to prepare ourselves with a review of key elements in our service.  We want everyone who attends service to participate and feel comfortable.  If our veteran service goers happen to be seated...

A basic teaching of Buddhism is: Everything changes.  Nothing stays the same.  Our temple’s experiences over the last 5 years really demonstrate this principle of impermanence! In 2020, our temple, like millions of institutions around the world, had to rethink how we operated to reduce the risk of spreading COVID in our communities.   For us, that meant moving to online services.  In the beginning, we had just one service a month online, but we gradually moved to online services twice a month. And once a month we would have take-out lunch...

For a week each July, our ministers and members of the community gather at cemeteries around our region to offer short Buddhist services of sutra chanting, incense offering, and a short Dharma message. This year, with the assistance of our temple president, Mike Iseri, we have visited 16 cemeteries between Boise, Idaho and Baker City, Oregon.  Because it is hot this time of year, we often look for trees to gather under while we hold these services cemetery.  The shade is very much appreciated by all of us, as we stand there together in the heat for the service.   The trees...